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Maoist rebels kill 15 police officers in Nepal

KATHMANDU: Fifteen policemen were killed and 16 others injured when suspected Maoist rebels bombed a security post in a remote village in west Nepal, police said on Saturday.

"Fifteen police officers were killed," Nepal Police chief Achyut Krishna Kharel said.

A police spokesman told Reuters that the rebels attackd a police post around 1.25 a.m (1940 GMT) at Ghartigaon in Rolpa district, 450 km (280 miles) west of the national capital, Kathmandu.

This is the largest number of security personnel killed in a single incident since the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) started an insurgency in several remote districts to establish a communist republic in the world's only Hindu kingdom.

More than 1,150 people have been killed in insurgent activities and in police action since the revolt started in February 1996.

Recently global human rights watchdog Amnesty International held both the Maoist rebels and the Nepali government responsible for human rights violations in the conflict.-Reuters